The Swadesh Darshan Scheme was started in January 2015 by the Ministry of Tourism in order to strengthen the country’s tourism infrastructure.
Specifically, during the 2014-15 budget statement, the Finance Minister stated, India’s rich cultural, historical, religious and natural heritage provides a huge potential for the development of tourism and job creation as an Industry.”
Following that, the minister recommended creating five tourist circuits based on distinct themes, as well as setting aside Rs 500 crore for this purpose.
The plan is all-encompassing. The Himalayan Circuit, North East Circuit, Krishna Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, and Coastal Circuit were the first five circuits to be developed, and they were inaugurated with the following five circuits: Himalayan Circuit, North East Circuit, Krishna Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, and Coastal Circuit.
In 2015, 2016, and 2017, the government added 10 more thematic circuits to the scheme, including the Desert Circuit, Tribal Circuit, Eco Circuit, Wildlife Circuit, Rural Circuit, Spiritual Circuit, Ramayana Circuit, Heritage Circuit, Tirthankar Circuit, and Sufi Circuit, bringing the total number of thematic circuits to 15.
Objectives
- Promote tourism as a major source of economic growth and employment;
- Develop tourist-friendly circuits in a systematic and prioritised manner;
- To produce livelihoods in the specified regions, promote the country’s cultural and heritage worth.
- Enhance the circuit’s/destinations’ visitor appeal in a sustainable manner by constructing world-class infrastructure;
- Adopt a community-based development and tourism-for-the-poor strategy
- Increase local community knowledge of the relevance of tourism to them in terms of greater revenue, higher living conditions, and general growth of the area.
- Create jobs by including local communities in the process
- Take use of tourism’s potential for job creation and economic development.
- By developing theme-based circuits, make full use of the potential and benefits in terms of available infrastructure, national culture, and typical strong points of each and every region around the country.
Works carried out by the Government
The Ministry of Tourism is implementing the project to improve India’s tourism infrastructure in a sustainable and inclusive manner so that it can become a world-class tourist destination. On the other hand, when the private sector is unwilling to invest, the ministry is focusing on developing public infrastructure such as last-mile connectivity, tourist welcoming centres, wayside amenities, solid waste management, illumination, landscaping, parking, and so on.
Swadesh Darshan Scheme in Northeast
In September of this year, the government approved 16 projects in the North-East. While approving the projects, he stated that the government is focusing on improving infrastructure, on-the-ground capacity, and skills in the Northeast.
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